Category: Game Recaps

When it comes to the world of baseball, there’s nothing I hate more than losing to the Twins. You can only imagine how I feel losing two in a row.

We got beaten by Carl Pavano, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. Pavano has no talent whatsoever. (When it comes to the Twins, you’re either good like Mauer, or you’re really bad. Pavano isn’t as good as Mauer, therefore, in my mind, he’s really bad.) That needs to be fixed. Next time, 1) don’t lost to Pavano, and 2) don’t lose to the Twins. In that order I think… yeah. Cool!

Next up is Dunn: you pretty much suck again, which isn’t cool. That about sums that up.

I really dislike recapping losing series’. It’s not fun.

So… I’m content with this recap. I usually like to go more in-depth but, for the Twins, this is more than I want to say. I’m not awarding any bullpen points this series because Twins games are the ultimate test and cannot be measured in imaginary points.

Tonight is the last night of Vacation Bible School so I’ll be back to my usual recaps after this.

I’m sitting here in the tech booth of my church getting ready for night number two at our Vacation Bible School and my friend Mr. Doane, a Cubs fan, walked in, pointed to me, and said, “Hey! Those Sox… they’re starting to look real, real good.” That made me smile.

The Sox are, indeed, looking real good lately. Adam Dunn is starting to hit consistently (I just need five more good games from the guy before he earns back my trust), the starting pitching has been phenomenal, the defense has been solid all season but as of late they’ve really been solid – pretty much all aspects of the Sox are clicking lately.

This Minnesota series is gonna be a big test for the Sox. The Twins are playing some good baseball lately, relying on their talented pitching staff to win ballgames, and they’re looking to gain some ground on us. Where we sit in the standings isn’t entirely close but we can’t afford to lose games right now. The Indians and Tigers are fighting it out for first place but the way the Sox are playing I think we’ll be on top by July. Mark that as my official prediction. Kansas City is looking good, too, as they recently called up top prospect Mike Moustakas. Moustakas at third and Hosmer at first will be a good combination for a long time.

Gavin Floyd (6-5, 3.89) will go for the Good Guys tonight and Carl Pavano (3-5, 4.54) will deal for the Twins. Let’s keep this momentum in our favor! And keep Adam Dunn hitting… please…

My consecutive games recapped streak is in Serious Jeopardy (which is a lot worse than Double Jeopardy) this upcoming week, starting tomorrow. There is Vacation Bible School at my church all week and since my dad is the children’s pastor my family has to be there extra early and stay extra late. Hopefully having my iPad will help and I’ll do the best I can to get a post up after each game, but just in case I don’t… thats why.

And I missed tonights game but I checked out the replays on MLB At-Bat and man what a catch by Lillibridge. Keleigh, I request that play be put on your defensive highlights page (if you weren’t already thinking that yourself).

Danks pitched a heckuva ballgame to earn just his second win of the year. And Jesse Crain logged his first save – two points

Who was that huge guy with the bat that hit a home run in the eighth inning? He had Adam Dunn’s jersey on…

I’m gonna need to see eight more one-for-three or two-for-four games before Dunn earns back my trust. I think that’s a pretty reasonable number, and definitely achievable with one hundred one games left to play in the season. (Can you believe that? Already. Man.)

Mark Buehrle keeps turning in good outing after good outing and it’s making me very happy. Another seven solid innings out of the left-hander tonight as he improved his season record to six wins against four losses. I know we beat up on a team that came into the game having lost nine in a row, but a win is a win, right?

The offense was huge tonight. Dunn had a home run, Konerko had another homer (how many games in a row is that now?), Pierre, Vizquel, Ramirez, and Quentin all drove in runs as well. Everyone contributed in this game and that more than anything will help us win ballgames. It’s nice for one player to have a huge game that we can ride for nine innings (see: Carlos Quentin), but when the guys work as a team we’ll have a higher chance at a win. I know I probably sounded like the John Madden of amateur baseball analysts right there but I like to stress the importance of teamwork.

Didn’t I just say yesterday that this team would be a lot better if Dunn was the Dunn we thought we were getting when we signed him? The next game we get a 9-4 win. Keep it up, big guy. And you too, Rios! I see that two-for-five in the box score, don’t try to hide from me.

Jesse Crain and Will Ohman both appeared in tonight’s game. Crain pitched pretty well and despite allowing one run so did Ohman. Two points for Crain and, even though I don’t usually give out points to pitchers who surrender a run – it was a good game tonight so I’m feeling generous – a point for Ohman as well.

Young Graham Godfrey will be making his MLB debut for the A’s tomorrow against Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.50). Let’s give him a debut he’ll never forget. In the bad way, though.

I’m sitting here listening to the Alter Bridge station on Pandora as I try to figure this game out.

Well, it looked good for a while there, right? I hate seeing games like this go to waste. The Twins beat the Indians earlier today which set us up for a chance to get even closer to first place. Then the Mariners spoil the sweep and keep us where we were.

I tweeted during the game (or I tried to but the app like… crashed or something. Timed out? I think it timed out. I’m still getting used to the jargon) that this is as locked-in as I have seen Carlos Quentin since his 2008 campaign. Seventeen homers? It’s Jose Bautista junior over here. I was in the extreme minority of Sox fans who wanted to hold on to Quentin this offseason and I think, now, we can all agree its a good thing we kept him. The kid is ridiculous.

Alex Rios was in the lineup for the first time in a few days tonight. He didn’t do anything special, as usual. He and Dunn have been huge disappointments so far but the last few weeks have shown that our offense can produce anyway. Imagine how good we’d be if those guys chipped in once every thirty at-bats or so. Until then we’ll rely on Lillibridge (which is fine) and Teahen (blech, threw up in my mouth a little bit).

I just wanted to point out how consistent Gordon Beckham has been this year. He struggled a bit towards the end of last season and he was one of the question marks going into 2011. We’ve seen some flashy hitting from Konerko, Ramirez, and Quentin, some surprising games from Lillibridge and Vizquel, and of course those disappointments I mentioned above. I feel like Beckham has kinda gotten lost in the middle. He drew two walks tonight and drove in a run in the seventh inning. Another guy who needs more recognition is Brent Morel. How about that kid, huh? This is some Crede-like defense he’s displaying and I’m always impressed by him. Let’s not forget these guys.

Floyd pitched a pretty good ballgame, but so did Jason Vargas. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) Sergio Santos, however, was completely out of character. He just had no command of his pitches tonight and that’s why he got burned. No points for Sergio. No points for Crain either as he allowed the game-tying run to score. Matt Thornton and Brian Bruney will get points – two each for outings that made me feel like we had another chance at a win.

Well, we tried for the sweep but it just didn’t work out. Thankfully, just as these guys are getting hot, the Sox will welcome in one of the worst teams in the game right now, the Oakland Athletics. Trevor Cahill (6-3, 2.65) will do battle with Mark Buehrle (5-4, 3.95) tomorrow night at 7:10.

Alright, I’m gonna try writing tonight’s post on my iPad. I can’t edit the widget for bullpen points on here so I’ll have to do that later. Other than that (and typos I’ll have to fix), this should go smoothly.

Phil Humber is climbing into the upper tier of American League pitchers. Anyone who can out-duel Felix Hernandez is one heck of a pitcher. Even Humber’s ERA is better than Felix’s! 2.87 as of the conclusion of the game against Hernandez’s 3.29. I don’t want to get way ahead of things, but could there be a Cy Young award on the way to the South Side? If not, at least give the guy Comeback Player of the Year,

Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin are swinging hot bats lately. Konerko launched his fourteenth home run of the season in the second inning and Quentin hit his fifteenth (a frozen rope down the left field line) of the year in the third. Both are among the tops in the Majors in runs batted in (Konerko with 47 and Quentin with 42). And of course there was Omar Vizquel’s two-run triple in the third inning, a few batters before CQ’s laser. This wouldn’t be a proper recap of the offense without an Adam Dunn mention so here it is: he didn’t play. Mark Teahen manned first base tonight while Paulie filled the DH spot.

Here’s a thought to chew on… Dayan Viciedo is ripping triple-A apart right now. What if we call him up and put him at DH? I know we have Dunn and his $56 million dollar roster spot to deal with, but I say we convert him to the leagues highest payed pinch hitter. It could work, right?

Not much to say about the bullpen. These are the good games when I have nothing but praise for whoever comes out of the pen. Chris Sale was the lone reliever to make The Jog tonight, pitching one inning and some change, allowing one hit. Two points for Sale. See how nice that was? No Thornton explosions and Jesse Crain nail biters to report. Just a solid outing we can watch in peace.

The Sox will go for the sweep tomorrow as they’ll send Gavin Floyd (6-5, 3.84) to the mound to go against Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.96). Wait, no… Vargas is going against Floyd, right? Yeah. The way I write these always sounds funny to me. I’ll pay more attention from now on.

I fixed twelve typos in this post and if there are any I didn’t catch, point them out and… I dunno. You’d make a good editor some day.

Go Sox!!

EDIT: Turns out I can edit the widget I just have to go to WordPress in Safari. Perhaps I never need to leave my room again…?